Last Week in the Legislature
It's Moving Time
By Kenneth Besserman
Director of Government Affairs and Special Counsel
April 18, 2025 | Issue 12
AUSTIN - In the past two weeks, the Texas House of Representatives has passed its version of three major pieces of legislation – the state budget, school finance and school choice – moving the bills back to the Senate and setting the stage for conference committees to work out the differences. More on these major issues in a moment. As these important bills get moved off of the House calendar, it makes more time for other legislation to get to the House floor and significantly speeds up and condenses the bill passing process. We have mentioned in past LWILs that the Texas legislative process is set purposefully to make passing bills very difficult, requiring a lot of work in a short period of time. We are now at that critical stage and the post-Easter break period is where it all happens.
First, an update on TXCPA’s legislative agenda. CPA pathways legislation, SB 262 and HB 1757, have been moving through the legislative process with full legislative support. SB 262 passed the Senate in mid-March and HB 1757 – the companion to SB 262 – has been set for House floor debate on April 23. The TXCPA government affairs team and contract lobbyists are working to ensure there is support to pass the bill – there is full support – and to line the bills up so that we can pass the Senate bill and not have to return back to the Senate. While all this is inside baseball and highly technical, we want to ensure simple passage and get the bill to the Governor. So, while HB 1757 is set for debate on April 23, there is a chance that it might be delayed a few days while SB 262 catches up to put the bills in the same parliamentary stage to make passage easier and seamless. In the meantime, please reach out to your State Representative and ask them to support HB 1757 by Rep. Angie Chen Button and tell them how important the bill is for the CPA profession.
Mobility legislation – SB 522 and HB 1764 – are similarly in good legislative shape. SB 522 passed the Senate last week and the companion bill, HB 1764, also passed out of the House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee last week. HB 1764 is in the Calendars Committee and will be set for House floor debate soon. With many of the big issues off the House calendar, more time will be set for House floor debate in the coming weeks. As with pathways legislation, please call your State Representative and ask them to support this important mobility legislation and also contact the Calendars Committee and ask that they set HB 1764 for debate on the House floor.
TXCPA’s legislative agenda is looking in good shape with about six weeks left in the session. Rarely do bills get to the Governor’s desk before the middle or end of May, so there is no need to be concerned about timing. That is just the Texas legislative process.
On Thursday, the Texas House spent well over 11 hours debating school choice. The legislation, Senate Bill 2, creates a $1 billion system of education savings accounts that will allow families to receive up to $10,000 per student per year to use for private school tuition. The legislation passed on an almost partisan vote of 85-63 with two Republicans voting No to join 61 Democrats opposing the legislation.
The House version of SB 2 differs significantly from what the Senate passed a few weeks ago. First, there is a $1 billion cap on the House version, prioritization of funds for students with disabilities and from lower incomes, more power to the State Auditor to review the program, annual reports, and a requirement that private schools be in existence for at least two years before joining the program. The House version differs vastly from the Senate version, which has no financial cap on the size of the program and very little oversight from state regulators. The bill will now move on to a conference committee to iron out the differences.
Also, this week, the House passed its version on school finance that increases the student allotment – the base funding for school finance – from $6,160 to $6,555 per student, provides for teacher pay raises, bars non-certified teachers from instructing core classes, and provides for increases in special education funding. The school finance legislation will also enter the conference committee process, which may take weeks to iron out the differences and priorities between the houses.
A very big week for school finance and the TXCPA legislative priorities. The next month will be a busy time in Austin.
Only 44 days left in the session!